m women's apparel, extending a downturn that's grown deeper in recent months and serving as an ominous sign for the health of retailing in general. Women do the primary shopping for the family, so analysts say it's troubling that they are spending less time in the stores. She was buying some greeting cards and mint chocolates, but didn't plan to buy clothing.
"There's been a malaise" among women's clothing sales and "it has spread to other areas," said Dan UGGs Sale Hess, chief executive of Merchant Forecast, a New York based research firm. "The panic button has been pushed, particularly in department stores."
And even with an expected sales surge this weekend, which traditionally accounts for about 10 percent of holiday sales, Lazard Capital Markets analyst Todd Slater expects that the last minute spending will be "too little, too late" to save Christmas.
"When people think they are in a recession, they spend like they are in a recession," Slater said.
A series of snowstorms hampered spending in recent days, but clearly, economic worries particularly higher gas prices, an escalating credit crisis and a slumping housing market weighed on shoppers' minds.
According to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a research company that tracks total sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets, business for the week ended Saturday slipped 0.4 percent compared to the same week in 2006. traffic for the same period slumped 8.9 percent from a year ago.
The Cheap UGG Boots On Sale 70% Off apparel market was hit even UGG Boots 5825 Classic Short harder because there was nothing new that wowed shoppers. The new style cropped jackets with bell sleeves failed to generate a lot of buzz, says research analyst Jennifer Black.
Hess estimated that discounts at department stores Women UGG Boots Sale are about 10 percent to 15 percent higher than a year ago, a worrisome sign for profits. Price cutting at specialty clothing stores, which had better control of their inventories, were at the same level as a year ago.
Slater said that he estimates that large department stores are missing their sales plan by UGG Boots Sale as much as 1